One Short Day

Friday was another road trip day. We all wanted to go to Bruges, Belgium, and figured we could do it in a day if we got up early. Everyone got up early and we were out the door just a bit after 8:00 am – yeah! We rented a car with a GPS and hit the road. It was so much fun to get out of the city and see more of France. And for some reason, I love stopping at the rest stops with all of the other road-trippers.
It took only 3 hours to reach Bruges. It was so funny when we crossed the border and realized that we have NO IDEA how to speak their language. All of the signs were in Dutch. We did have fun trying to pronounce the words we saw and Dave challenged the kids to find the funniest Dutch word.
Bruges is sometimes called "The Venice of the North", and so we lookd at it as a consolaiton prize for missing Venice. :)
The city is wet up so that there are underground parking lots to keep the cars off of the streets.  I am fully aware of my abuse of the word "beautiful", but it was BEAUTIFUL day outside and we were in a BEAUTIFUL town. The architecture was so different from what we had seen.
We stopped for some lunch early on so the kids wouldn’t tire too soon. We started with the Marktplatz, the main market square – amazing! Then, headed over to Burg platz where we decided to do the boat tour on the river. While waiting in line, I got the family their official Belgian Waffles from a chocolate shop. They were incredibly delicious! We were so sad that we had to eat them on the go so that we couldn’t savor them a bit more. :)
The boat tour was great! We saw so much, but it wasn't so long that we felt like we wasted our time.  The bridges here are gorgeous. The whole town just feels like it's frozen in time. We went to Rozenhoodkaai, one of the most picturesque spots in Bruges.  We then went to Notre Dame. It has a Madonna and Child sculpture that Michelangelo. It's believed to be the only Michelangelo to have left Italy while he was still alive. It was meant for another cathedral, but someone purchased it and so it remained in Bruges. The details on the sculpture were amazing.
We wandered down to the Abbey and went into the church where the nuns were holding a service. The area was very peaceful and lovely. Mali really started feeling sick. So, we went back towards the center. We tried walking around some more, but she was really in bad shape. So, Dave and the kids got sandwiches to go while I went to get some chocolates, and then we met up and headed out. We feel like we were able to see everything we needed to see, even with leaving a little early. I was very fortunate to find some medicine for Mali in my purse, so the ride home went smoothly as well.
It was a perfect day! We made it without any troubles, the sun was out all day, and we saw a beautiful little town. We were all feeling really grateful on the way home. (We took hundreds of photos, so it is hard to choose! We are posting every single Europe photo online, just not on the blog.)



Some of the funny words the kids found

Lunch time!

Artsy Dave

 Family at the Fountain

Belgian Waffles

The Marktplatz


The Burgplatz

The super fancy outdoor Water Closet. Better than using the street!

More of beautiful Bruges

The Notre Dame

Michelangelo’s Madonna
T
here were several swans in Bruges

Some of the beauty we saw on our river tour
 
Just a few more shots.